Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-22
ENFORCED TAX COLLECTION.
A Defense Of the Governor and a Cock and
Bun story.
Galveston News, April Is

/ OaiNe5tOn NeWs, phi 10.
| There may be some who doubt the
| necessity of the veto Of the bill postpon-
! ing until September next the forced col
| lection of taxes levied last year. Gov
ernor Ross canUot but be apprehensive of
! the dangers which threaten his financial
administration lurking in the bill in ques-
ton, lowering in the prohibition move
ment ard clearly seen in the cslamities
which have visited the stock districts,
dangers to which he could not sppro-
priatelV refer in the proclamation an
nOunCiIg the veto. The Legislature had
adjourned, leaving the standing deficit in
the school revenues where it wss
when the session began. Attention had
been called to it repeatedly in the COL
umns of the News, and it was adVerted
to by the retiring Governor; school war
rants were st discount from January
to April I, and no effort was made to
remedy the wrong. On the contrary, the
Legislature diverted $4,000 of the school
fund, created six judgeships, four district
attorneys, full set of officers for two
new asylumS and refOrmatOry, created
the offices of extra assistant attorney
general, of state surveyor, of receiver
in The treasury, Of county school
ships and bureaus with
liberal hand, without any apparent reali-
zation of the embarrassments which the
school department was suffering, and
which threaten all departments of the gov
eminent. The pOstponement of tax col
lections in the western country scOurged
by the drOuth would have been justiflable,
but in the whole state was not required,
ho 70 hn
and q grievOuS wrong to the drouth
stricken west. The postpOnement would
defer the collection of school taxes and
The payment Of interest on school fund
investments by the debtor counties until
the first quarter Of the next scholas-
tic year, while there is now a
deficiency of 5000, 900 in the second quar-
ter of the current scholastic year. This
would have been sufficient ground for
the veto of itself The Governor doubtless
looked beyond this and saw the probable
reduction in revenues from the crippled
stock interests. He cannot fail to have
estimated the loss OF revenue from the
new Law regulating the retail liquor traf-
f.. The revenue of about S45. 900 per
annum from the dIummers' tax ceases.
Prohibition is possible, which in
eliminating the liquor license tax
and the ad valorem tax on LIQUORS
could reduce TIE revenues $1,000, 600
IL the two years Of mis- tenn of Of
fee. Evidently it is an inaGspicious
time TO experiment with tax postpone
ment which might be expected to afford
relief to few needing it, while it would be
certain to throw into inevitable bank
ruptCy the Treasury by tax postpone
ment, complicated with 8 loss to the
revenue Of $1,000 900 from the suppress
sioG of the liquor traffic. Prohibition
adopted in August next would be the |
signal for an Immediate session Of the |
Legislature and radical reorganization of |
the revenue system, and pending cess a.
ton of tax collections would present to |
Governor Ross such 8 present hopeless |
depletion of the Treasury and forlorn |
prospect for the future that he could an
ticipate only failure at the hands of an |
impotent Legislature, responsiblei for |
all his misfortunes. The Governor could |
not afford to go into this discussion in |
his veto paper; still ne must be dragged
into it before August in all probability. (
Maxey and Reagan can with complacency, /
and smaller prohibition leaders with /
pleasure, contemplate the embarrsss-
ments they expect to bring upon the